CARSON, Calif.—U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann said Friday he’s leaning toward conducting a camp in Los Angeles during the latter half of January that would lead into the opening World Cup qualifier in Honduras on Feb. 6.

The awkward timing of the first CONCACAF Hexagonal match and its position during an exhibition date on the FIFA calendar means Klinsmann won’t have access to his European-based players until only a couple of days before kickoff. That means the camp, if it takes place, would be comprised largely of MLS players, with a few based abroad (especially Scandinavia) who have some leeway with their clubs sprinkled in. Those who impress could be retained as part of the roster of 23 that will head to Miami and then Honduras in early February.

Jurgen Klinsmann will be very busy in 2013. (AP Photo)

Speaking to a small group of reporters at a hotel about a mile from The Home Depot Center, which will host Saturday afternoon’s MLS Cup final, Klinsmann said he’d like to end the camp with an exhibition at the same facility on Jan. 30 or 31.

“As of today, we’ll probably start on Jan. 14 and go until the 31st,” he said. “But we haven’t finalized things yet. We’re just in the middle of it. ... We have to plan in a way that it makes sense going into the Feb. 6 date. Finishing it off on the 31st, giving basically the players two days off and then meeting up in Miami on the 3rd before we travel down to Honduras.”

Klinsmann won’t be wasting his time with the players who participate in the camp but don’t travel to Central America. Next year is going to be busy, with 10 World Cup qualifiers, the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July and a rumored exhibition against Germany in late May or early June. Building depth throughout the squad and finding players to challenge the incumbents for minutes remain key foundations of Klinsmann’s philosophy.

He said he hopes to finalize the plan within the next 10 days. Klinsmann’s first January camp, which ended with exhibitions vs. Venezuela and Panama, was notable for catapulting defender Geoff Cameron and midfielder Graham Zusi into the World Cup qualifying mix.

“We’ll try to put together a good mix of guys,” Klinsmann said. “It gives you a chance to look deeper into your pool, to see how do we juggle this whole thing in May and June and then the July Gold Cup. That will be our message to the players: ‘Even if you do not make it to the Feb. 6 date, we want to see you in our environment because we want to plan out the whole year.’

“We will have a completely different roster for the Gold Cup than the World Cup qualifiers because that’s just the nature of the beast.”

Following the match in Honduras, the U.S. will host a qualifier vs. Costa Rica (at a venue to be determined) on March 22 and then travel to the Estadio Azteca to face Mexico four days later.